One Foot in the Grave - Denise Grover Swank Page 0,45
so I launched into an account of everything that had happened from the moment Wyatt had knocked on my bedroom door this morning to when I’d left his house. I left out nothing except for my hurt feelings. They were a moot point for this investigation.
“That man has a lot of nerve asking for your help,” he finally said.
“I know.”
“I think you need to ask yourself what you hope to gain if we prove his innocence. His gratitude? The answers he’s refused to give you? Are you hopin’ he’ll tell you he fucked up and he’s sorry and he wants you back? Because you want something. You need to figure out what it is and try to determine how heartbroken you’ll be if he doesn’t give it to you.”
“Marco…”
“You don’t have to tell me, Carly, but you definitely need to figure it out for yourself.”
He was right, and it burned.
I was such a fool when it came to men.
“After I left Wyatt’s, I headed to the construction site to see you, had my encounter with Bart, then dropped by the vet clinic to see Abby.” I told him what she’d told me.
He stopped me when I got to the part about Wyatt’s presence at Heather’s going-away party. “He didn’t tell you about that?”
“No.”
“One of those lies of omission.”
“It seems like a pretty big thing to leave out, doesn’t it?” I asked.
“Yeah, it does, which leads me to why he did. He told you about her two best friends, so he knew you’d go to them first and get the truth.”
“I know. It doesn’t make any sense.” I stabbed a forkful of lettuce. “I need to talk to Mitzi, but Abby said the news of Heather’s death has upset her and she’s fragile.”
“What does that mean?”
“Good question. She was worried I’d upset her, but I assured her that I’d be perfectly cordial. So Abby agreed to call her and see if she’ll be willing to talk to me. I’m supposed to drop by the vet clinic after lunch to find out what she says.”
“Are you going to go have tea with Emily?”
“I haven’t decided yet.”
He looked grim. Then his lips tipped up into the hint of a smile. “What’s Wyatt gonna do if he realizes you’re heading to his parents’ house?”
“It’s almost worth going out there to see his reaction.”
“If you decide to go, be careful. Don’t let your guard down. Know that Bart isn’t one step ahead of you. He’s six feet ahead.”
“I know.”
He was silent for a moment, his gaze locked on the dilapidated mill. “As I mentioned, if you do this, you could get in trouble for interfering with an active investigation, but on the off chance the sheriff’s department catches wind that you’re looking into Heather’s death, just blow it off as gossip. They’ll likely buy it and give you a warning.”
“Yeah, good idea.”
“Let’s drive to the vet clinic together,” he said, reaching to turn on the engine. “I’d feel better if I know what you’re doing and where you are.”
“So you can track me down if I disappear?”
“Exactly,” he said with a grim expression.
As morbid as that sounded, it filled me with a sense of security. Of course, it was likely misplaced. I’d been kidnapped from the tavern last December.
“Let’s finish our lunch first,” I said. “We can drive Wyatt crazy a little longer.”
He grinned. “I’m good with that.”
Chapter Twelve
We’d already eaten some of our lunches, so it didn’t take us much longer to finish. Marco purposely drove away from the creek a couple of blocks before returning to Main Street so Wyatt could go on thinking we were oblivious to his presence. Sure enough, he kept following us. We weren’t far out of town before we saw his truck in the distance in the rearview mirrors.
“He’s probably wondering why I’m goin’ with you in your sheriff’s vehicle,” I said, spotting the clinic ahead.
“I’m more worried what the staff at the vet clinic’s gonna think about it,” he said, turning on his signal before he pulled into the parking lot.
“I think it might give me more credibility. Abby wasn’t worried about the truth coming out. She was more worried about why I was looking.”
He nodded and put the vehicle in park. “Go work your magic.”
I made a face, then got out of the car and headed into the building. When I walked through the door, Sasha and Abby were both standing at the window in the waiting room, staring out at Marco’s car.